Light streamed in from behind the doors, but the castle itself was dark, much darker than before. Along the walls, runes glowed a bright purple, and each one was like a broken triangle with the same odd continuation on each side. The halls were cramped with broken stones.

Ander walked in first, followed by Ithikar, and then by Elliot. It this were truly the same castle, Elliot would have lead, but it had been changed since their last visit.

Now instead of being able to hold five people walking shoulder to shoulder, only one person could fit in the walkways unless they wanted to squish. It put them in an awkward situation bad for fighting in.

"Ah," the voice sounded, its origin untraceable. "You're back. It looks like you wanted to view your graves for the last time."

A silhouette of a large man overshadowed the trio just as they walked out of the cramped hallway, which stretched out into the main hall. The shadow had tentacles streaming out of its right arm, which was cut off right above the elbow. The silhouette also had horns and a draconic tail, which ended in tentacles as thin as worms. Great wings stretched out past the humanoid's frame and were torn so badly that Ander could see its bones.

The main hall was a travesty. where before there had been a central fire and tables that sat with ornate chairs, the main hall had a gargantuan stone crushing the fireplace, and nearly every table was broken in one way or another. One lonely table remained, but that tables was covered in papers and useless candles.

An abomination of sorts stood at the end of the hall. It stood eight feet tall and wore a white mask, which was broken so that an eye and a jagged mouth were exposed. Its features were all parallel to its silhouette, except that it also had hard plates of armor made of scales, similar to that of the basilisk Ander had fought a few days before. Its eyes were wild and seemed more akin to a strange mindless creature than to a creature with a humanoid form.

In the giant's hand was a once-fine sword, now mostly covered in a dark stone. The behemoth of a sword glowed a vibrant green in the area that the stone was not in. The crazy man's voice rang out saying, "will out three new contestants be able to survive the undead Dalmenian, Grall; keep watching and you'll find out." 'Apparently he thinks he's entertaining a crowd.'

"Wait, what's a Da-"

The Dalmenian pushed itself into the air using its desolate wings and it swooped into Ander, cutting off his question.

Ander reached up for his foe's horns, grabbed them, and twisted the massive humanoid off him.

The new ruler of Ithiles descended from the room's buttresses. The dilapidated tables orbiting around him, spinning exceedingly quickly. Ithikar sprang into action, running straight towards the crazed mage.

Screams echoed down the corridors as shades sensed the commotion in the main hall. Elliot was forced to start chopping down the intruding shades while Ander walked over to the forlorn Dalmenian. He felt his newfound power surging up with his chest.

Grall dashed at him, and Ander swung his arm out in front of him, swatting the archshade out of the sky. Ander thrust his blade out of his sheath in an attempt to slay the Dalmenian before it could recover, but it rolled out of the way and pounced on him.

'Stay calm, there will be an opening, there always is.' The Dalmenian raised its sword to strike Ander. 'There!'

As Grall's arm burst down, Ander's left arm reached up and caught it. He locked up the stone joints and started squeezing the carapace, feeling it crack under the pressure.

The Dalmenian in turn slashed Ander with its clawed hand, freeing Ander from its grip and giving him the opportunity to roll out from under it.

Ithikar rode the tables orbiting the king's usurper. He leapt from table to table in an effort to get closer to the crazed man, but the closer he got the faster the tables moved.

Ander faced his opponent, whose large sword was moved to a defensive stance. Ander's sword was held in a single hand while his other hand was clutching his bleeding torso. All around Ander were bits and pieces of old tables, not yet rotten.

Ander stabbed his sword into the ground, sidestepping before he could be tackled, and grabbed a large, ornate table leg with his hand of flesh, as he didn't need or want to shatter his stone hand.

Grall snarled at him and dived at blinding speeds, but Ander had been fighting for far too many years for that to work now. Ander swung his makeshift mace just in time, and the club cracked through the Dalmenian's chitin. As the hard exoskeleton pieces fell on the ground, they transformed into dust a floated away.

The Dalmenian's chitin patterns were different on each layer. Its epidermal layer was like a smooth layer of armor, while the next layer was similar to scales. The last layer was more akin to skin than chitin.

The sword in the Dalmenian's hands flared green, and pieces of dark stone fell off it.

The Dalmenian started swinging quickly at Ander, who could only dodge because the large sword could easily cut through his table leg. The strikes were just slow enough that Ander could side step all of them.

As soon as the opportunity came, Ander smacked Grall in the face, cracking even more of his chitin, and parts of his mask. Even more stone fell off the sword as Grall's movement speed had a massive spike of increase.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

Grall's attacks became much faster and less mechanic, to the point that Ander couldn't even sidestep anymore. All he could do was lean away from hits while taking them on his stone arm, but even then, notches were punched into his arm every time Grall swung. Still, anything was better than taking the full force of Grall's swing.

Eventually Grall swung a little too wide, and Ander was able to club him in the arm where pieces had already begun falling off.

The remaining pieces of dark stone exploded off Grall's sword, and the blade inside glowed faintly a vibrant shade of green. The Dalmenian's eyes grew more intelligent suddenly, and as his sword slowly drained of light, his body began to mend.

"Who are you?" Grall, who Ander assumed was not just a mindless being anymore, asked.

"I'm Ander," Ander said, confused. "Weren't you just fighting me?"

"Probably, but I don't remember the fight."

"All you really need to know is that I was winning."

"But isn't your arm all torn up and slashed? I really only have three real wounds." Grall was also confused.

"Trust me," Ander said. "I haven't even used my secret weapon."

Grall turned away and stoically looked at the fighting around him. "I've got plans here on Riftgard," he started. "I thank you for helping me to escape this madman, but I really must get going."

With what seemed like a great strain, Grall's sword began gleaming like sunlight, and his wings started piecing themselves back together.

"Well then," Ander started. "Let's not have it be too long until we meet again." Ander waved him off as he flew down the halls.

Ander looked around and began to focus on the fights taking place around him. Elliot seemed to be handling the shades well enough by himself, but Ithikar had been blocked by tables and was in a stalemate for his energy's conservation.

Ander chucked his makeshift club at the flying foe. The man reached out and grabbed the club, but in that fraction of a second, Ithikar was able to jump up and launch the crazed man into the ground with his spear.

On a level field, Ithikar was easily defeating the new monarch of Ithiles. He easily destroyed the tables launched at him to the point that it seemed like he was having trouble before because he had to work so hard to keep the tables intact.

The man was punched from wall to wall, but his body still bore no signs of battle. Ithikar's icicle spear glowed bright blue. As he hit the man, all of the built up energy in the spear released, launching him through the stone walls.

He stood up smiling, his face torn up and covered in blood. "I was hoping the paladin of ice would be able to do more."

The crazed man's single wound mended itself as piles of broken stone was thrown towards Ithikar.

Ander's innate power welled up within himself again, throwing all of the debris into a single wall at Ithikar's side, shredding the wall.

Pillars of stone rose up to fifteen feet. Seventeen feet. Twenty feet. Ander and Ithikar were surrounded by the pillars of stone as their adversary changed the landscape once more. As the stone rose up past the foundation's limits, the pillars began to be raised by dirt. 'DIRT! I should have realized it before! If dirt is close enough to stone to manipulate, metals should work too!'

All of the metal in the main hall was Ander's. All the cups, the swords, the hinges, and even all the nails flew to him. He formed all of the metal into a colossal, curved blade and held onto it as it twisted up to the roof, cutting through the pillars on its way.

Ander leapt off, gambling on his opponent's state of disbelief. He apparently made a fantastic bet as he was able to blast the crazed man into the ground using his legs as a spring.

The moment the man hit the ground; Ander noticed something. The man had coughed out blood. He was injured. Ander felt himself grinning. He willed the metal to mold around the man, the only holes being the breathing holes and the eye holes, and Ander descended.

"Are you stupid?" the man laughed. "Forsl-"

Ander's metal grabbed the man's arms and pulled them away, aiming the metal-melting twin jets of flame away from Ander and his allies. The man was forced to his knees, no longer in a solid cube of metal, but his prison was not a more merciful prison to say the least. Ander strode over to him, his body limp, the metal moving him.

"What, may I ask, is your name?" Ander smiled wolfishly.

"Well, I think it's-"

Ander punched him. Hard. "Do try to be quicker, I'm running low on patience."

"Will!" the man yelled. "I just remembered. My name is Will Karnsford."

"You know, Will, names are things worth remembering." 'How could he not remember his own name?' "Do you remember Palantriss?"

"Palantriss? Palantriss. Yes, that was my most recent conquest. It failed though because thr-"

Ander lifted the man's chin, forcing him to keep eye contact. "Let me rephrase the question. Do you remember who you killed at Palantriss?"

Will seemed to blank out for a moment, his mind trying but failing to spin new thoughts. "I guess there was this one carpenter...?"

Ander stared blankly at Will 'Does he not even remember?' "Do you not remember?"

"Wait! Are you. are you one of the three? The three who ruined my conquest of Palantriss? I've been looking for you!"

For some indiscernible reason Ander began to get even more angry at that comment. "That wasn't an answer, Will. For someone who is chained to the walls, you don't seem to understand what sort of predicament you're in."

Will looked up to meet Ander's gaze. "Your questions don't interest me." He looked around. "There's three of you, but not the same three."

Ander was livid. The man obviously didn't have a care for his actions or the natural consequences that should follow. Will avoided Ander's questions and Ander's years of working to quiet his rage was useless in the face of someone so callous.

Just as Ander's rage was about to boil over Will asked: "Where's the other one?"

"Don't you know?" Ander spat through his teeth, his eyes feeling hollow. "You killed him."

"No, I didn't."

"What do. you mean!" Ander's voice was like ice, but his words felt like they were about to stick in his throat.

"If I killed him, he would be a shade. We are talking about the same guy, right? Blondish? Maybe nineteen? A beacon of light? Looks a little healthier than me?"

"You can't be right. I saw Honorious stab him!"

"It must not have been fatal."

"He faded in front of me, and trust me, I can tell when someone dies." Ander had lost to many friends to not know.

"Well, I don't know what to tell you, he wasn't killed by me, maybe someone else killed him in the last moment, but it wasn't me."

Ander knew that no one had the opportunity to attack Flyte except for Honorious. Elliot wouldn't have allowed otherwise.

"Liar!" Ander cried out. "Show him to me!" Ander's fists flew uncontrollably, the ground beneath him quaking, strain under the enormous weight beneath each blow.

"STOP!" The commanding forced Ander to hesitate. "I have played your childish game, and have told you everything that you asked to know, yet you attack me?"

"Yes," Ander said, resolved and with a voice full of conviction.

"Than let's have a real fight, not one with a man bound." The metal trapping Will's arms let go of him and shot directly though Ander as spears.

Their fight was not over.